The use of oxygen bleaches in compositions for bleaching household surfaces has been known for a long time and many such compositions are available. However a common difficulty in formulating such a composition is to ensure that it remains stable during storage but is sufficiently active on use. This is particularly difficult to achieve in liquid bleaching compositions. Many solutions have been proposed to this problem but most of these require the use of expensive stabilizing components or of complex formulation processes.
One solution has been to formulate liquid peroxygen bleaches at pHs between about 3 and 7 to produce a stable composition, but in practice such compositions do not provide sufficient bleaching power to be useful for many household situations. Attempts have therefore also been made to formulate liquid peroxygen bleach compositions at pHs above this range to improve the bleaching power. However these generally require expensive stabilizing compounds to prevent loss of activity after manufacturing.
The present invention provides a peroxide bleach product which has acceptable stability after manufacture, but which is capable of providing effective bleaching power when used by the consumer.
Commercial products capable of removing lirnescale from domestic surfaces are well known. Most of these products are based on acids which simply dissolve the limescale. Many surfaces require both limescale removal and bleaching, but no commercially available products are truly capable of both functions.
Furthermore, it would be convenient to the consumer to purchase one product which could be used either for limescale removal or bleaching as required, even when both functions are not required simultaneously.
The present invention provides a product which is capable of carrying out effective bleaching and/or limescale removal at a surface.